Toronto

Submitted by Elliot (Canada), Feb 9, 2005 at 23:41

I am a Jewish male from Toronto. My sense of Dr. Pipes' views are generally positive, and I believe in the need to see to it that people are accountable for their actions.

I do, however, I take exception to Dr. Pipes' position that the Toronto police viewed the Rosenzweig murder as not a hate crime. I followed this story closely. The murder took place in the very neighbourhood I grew up in. The police reaction was one of caution in the first hours after the murder. Once all the bystanders were interviewed, the position of the police was that this was indeed a hate crime, though not motivated by organized racism. The killer was drunk, and stupid, and no doubt resented Jews, but there has been no evidence in the press that he was ever part of a racist group, ot had any ideological leanings. To that end, it is fair to question whether this murder ought to be labeled a hate crime. In my view, that water is down the drain.

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